Ninety percent of House Democrats are on record in support of an impeachment inquiry, making House Agriculture chairman Collin Peterson an outlier in arguing against it. Sometimes called the most conservative Democrat in the House, Peterson is nearly alone among members of his committee in questioning the investigation.
As of Wednesday evening, 19 of the 26 Democrats on the Agriculture Committee had issued statements in support of the inquiry. Another four — Reps. Cheri Bustos of Illinois, Al Lawson of Florida, Tom O’Halleran of Arizona, and Anthony Brindisi of New York — had made conditional statements supporting an investigation. Brindisi, for example, tweeted, “We need to know the facts to fulfill our constitutional duty.”
Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey sounded undecided in speaking to reporters this week. Delegate Stacey Plaskett of the Virgin Islands chairs an Agriculture subcommittee but is not allowed to vote on the House floor. In June, she said she wanted to see the results of investigations before deciding whether impeachment was appropriate.
A flood of Democrats joined early supporters of an impeachment investigation on Tuesday after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced there would be an official inquiry. An aide to Peterson said the chairman’s views had not been altered by the announcement. “Without significant bipartisan support, impeachment proceedings will be a lengthy and divisive action with no resolution,” Peterson said in a statement early this week. “I believe it will be a failed process that will end up even further dividing our country and weakening our ability to act together on issues like passing USMCA, containing foreign threats, and growing our economy.”
For a CNN tally of supporters of the impeachment inquiry, click here. The network’s list of House Democrats who have not called for impeachment is available here.